This is one of them. There are nineteen essays in this volume, all by heavy hitters among today's legal theorists. Almost every single essay is about the philosophical foundations -- or lack thereof -- of the concepts of tort law. And almost every one of them is extremely helpful in understanding the rationale(s), if any, behind these concepts. (Wanna know what a "necessary element of a sufficient set" is, and what it has to do with the legal concept of causation? See Tony Honore's essay. Wanna know what intent has to do with torts? Check out John Finnis's piece.)

Now, I'm not saying you _need_ this book as a first-year law student. You don't. But if you have a background or an interest in philosophy, it will be of tremendous help to you -- both as a series of discourses that elaborate critically on the fundamentals you'll be studying in class, and as an introduction to the current crop of legal scholars. If you like this stuff, you'll want to go on to, e.g., John Finnis's _Natural Law and Natural Rights_, or Jules Coleman's _Markets, Morals and the Law_ and _Risks and Wrongs_, or . . .

And quite apart from the intrinsic interest of the material itself, if your torts professor, like mine, is interested in public-policy issues, you'll find this collection extremely handy. It _may_ even help you eke out a few extra exam points (though I don't know yet whether it did so for me).

(A valuable bonus for all you law-and-economics watchers: Richard Posner has an essay in here in which he admits the justice of most major criticisms of his outlook -- but says he doesn't care because he no longer has any confidence in systematic moral theories anyway. His retreat to pragmatism is unsurprising; Richard Wright has two brilliant pieces in here that, among other things, pretty much demolish the foundations of L&E. Wright's critique of the much-abused "Hand formula" alone is priceless.)

By the way, the _other_ book I found very useful (though expensive) was _Liability and Responsibility_, edited by Frey and Morris. That volume complements this one pretty well.

This is one of them. There are nineteen essays in this volume, all by heavy hitters among today's legal theorists. Almost every single essay is about the philosophical foundations -- or lack thereof -- of the concepts of tort law. And almost every one of them is extremely helpful in understanding the rationale(s), if any, behind these concepts. (Wanna know what a "necessary element of a sufficient set" is, and what it has to do with the legal concept of causation? See Tony Honore's essay. Wanna know what intent has to do with torts? Check out John Finnis's piece.)

Now, I'm not saying you _need_ this book as a first-year law student. You don't. But if you have a background or an interest in philosophy, it will be of tremendous help to you -- both as a series of discourses that elaborate critically on the fundamentals you'll be studying in class, and as an introduction to the current crop of legal scholars. If you like this stuff, you'll want to go on to, e.g., John Finnis's _Natural Law and Natural Rights_, or Jules Coleman's _Markets, Morals and the Law_ and _Risks and Wrongs_, or . . .

And quite apart from the intrinsic interest of the material itself, if your torts professor, like mine, is interested in public-policy issues, you'll find this collection extremely handy. It _may_ even help you eke out a few extra exam points (though I don't know yet whether it did so for me).

(A valuable bonus for all you law-and-economics watchers: Richard Posner has an essay in here in which he admits the justice of most major criticisms of his outlook -- but says he doesn't care because he no longer has any confidence in systematic moral theories anyway. His retreat to pragmatism is unsurprising; Richard Wright has two brilliant pieces in here that, among other things, pretty much demolish the foundations of L&E. Wright's critique of the much-abused "Hand formula" alone is priceless.)

By the way, the _other_ book I found very useful (though expensive) was _Liability and Responsibility_, edited by Frey and Morris. That volume complements this one pretty well.